Web Conferencing Security Procedures

In a typical office meeting there are certain conversations and documents you want to keep within a limited number of people. That is why you only hold meetings on certain room, doors locked, away from people that are not involved.

Same rule applies when you hold meetings using web conferencing hosting service. But unlike a typical meeting where you can shut your doors, close the blind or even sound proof the room to keep unauthorized people away, web conferencing, just like any other web activities, poses threat on your security, your participants, documents, product secrets, earnings projections, employee records, and conversation. It is imperative, therefore, that during the conference, take note of every tiny detail that can be done to keep everything secured.

During a web conference, your data is temporarily stored on a server that can be accessed by participants. But there is a tendency that people hack your system and access these data. To counteract this access, web conferencing employ 3 security standards: SSL, non-persistent data flow and intrusion control.

SSL or the Secure Socket Layer is a web conferencing security feature that prevents your documents to be read by users other than the intended receivers.
Instead of keeping the data stored in one computer during a web conference, the non-persistent data flow feature constantly shifts the data from one host to another – making it undetectable from unauthorized access.

Intrusion control keeps unauthorized users from accessing the data by shutting the transfer ports down.

Although web conferencing hosts differ in their security construction, most follow voluntarily to these 3 standards. The rest who do not follow these standards are services that are free and downloadable in the internet. (If you are running a large industry, you may steer away from these free programs.)

Tips:
As a web conferencing host, you have to make sure that your documents, as well as your participants are secured. If you are using a hosting service, be mindful of the security features that should be active during the web conference.

Carefully send emails to the participants about the conference. You may want to limit important details about the conference to the people concerned especially if the information is confidential.
Be watchful of the people who are trying to enter the conference. Uninvited users should be terminated immediately. (Most hosting providers automatically do these for you.)

Sensitive information that should only be revealed on particular persons during the conference should not be sent to others. Determine which detail should be shared and which should be kept within specific persons.

After a web conference, make sure that the important and confidential data are deleted immediately (if you are using the services of a web conferencing hosting company). Security measures do not end after the web conference. If your files are left on the service somebody might be able to get access to it.

As business norms begin to go global and methods on doing business begin to extend beyond the boundaries of your office, hackers and online criminals tend to adapt and become more creative. These are what you should look out for.

Web conferencing maybe one of the better ways to run and expand your business but if you are not careful enough, you might become a victim. When holding a meeting online, these things will be able to protect you.